Last year, a 14-year-old Sikh boy was refused entry to the Compton School in Barnet after governors ruled his Kirpan was a health and safety risk.

The same year, a Sikh police officer won his case for discrimination against Greater Manchester Police after he was told to remove his turban during riot training.

And in 2008, 14-year-old Sarika Singh won a High Court case against Aberdare Girls' School in south Wales after it excluded her for breaking its "no jewellery" rule for wearing a Kara. The school was found guilty of indirect discrimination under race relations and equality laws.

"I think these are issues that can be dealt with a certain amount of sensitivity. The girl not allowed to wear the Kara is a petty thing for the administrators to have done and it doesn't do them any good. It is the right of every young girl and boy to be educated at the school of their choice," Singh said.

"For him or her to be refused admission on that sort of ground, as far as I'm concerned, is quite wrong. It ought not to happen but it does. I think it's wrong to be discriminated against for that reason," he added. (ANI)